VARIATION IN ORNAMENTAL TRAITS OF DALEA PURPUREA

Abstract

Dalea purpurea Vent. (Purple Prairie Clover) is a perennial herbaceous plant found growing in the United States from North Dakota to Texas and from the Mississippi River to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. It produces excellent forage for livestock on many grasslands and has potential as an ornamental landscape plant. Two seedling populations of D. purpurea were field grown and traits including foliage color, height, lodging and stem number per plant were measured. Large differences existed within populations for these traits. A progeny population grown from seed of 5% of the plants collected from each of the two populations with the most desirable traits were also evaluated. The mean number of stems per plant varied from 8.7 and 4.2 in the parent populations to 20.2 in the progeny population. The correlation coefficients between traits varied from -0.54 to +0.39. D. purpurea does have potential as a landscape plant and selections with improved traits can be found within existing populations.